I think that what Max is proposing is very interesting. I have worked with OCLC data
before. It's fantastic and could be a huge boon to the WIkidata project.
I hope you'll seriously consider this offer to collaborate.
Evan
--
Evan Sandhaus
Lead Architect, Semantic Platforms
The New York Times Company
@kansandhaus
On May 24, 2012, at 7:41 PM, Klein,Max wrote:
Hello Wikidata Wizards,
Phoebe Ayers from the Board recommended I talk to you. My name is Max Klein and I am the
Wikipedian in Residence for OCLC. OCLC owns Worldcat.org<http://Worldcat.org> the
world’s largest holder of Library data at 264 million bibliographic records about books,
journals and other library items. We would really like to partner with you as Wikidata is
being built, in incorporating our data into your project.
What we can offer:
• WorldCat.org<http://WorldCat.org> metadata
http://www.worldcat.org/ .
o Typically, for any work we have most of the following: title, authors, publisher,
formats, summaries, editions, subjects, languages, intended audience, all associated
ISBNs, length, and abstract.
• APIs to this data
http://oclc.org/developer/
o And some other cool APIs like xISBN which returns all the ISBNs of all the editions of
book on the input of any single one.
• Library finding tools
o When viewing a record on our site, we show you the closest library which has that
work, and links to reserve it for pick-up.
• The Virtual International Authority File (VIAF)
http://viaf.org/, which is an
Authoritative Disambiguation file
o That means that we have certified data on disambiguation of Authors
• WorldCat Identities, an Analytics site
http://www.worldcat.org/identities/
o It gives you for Author metadata and analytics: Alternative names, significant dates,
publication timelines, genres, roles, related authors, and tag clouds of associated
subjects.
What’s in it for us:
• We are a not-for-profit member cooperative. Our mission is “Connecting people to
knowledge through library cooperation.”
• Since I work at the research group, for now this is just a research project.
o If at some point this goes live - and you want to - we’d like to integrate the “find
it at a library near me” feature, that means click-throughs for us.
The ideas:
There are a lot of possibilities, and I’d like to hear your input. These are the first few
that I’ve can come up with.
• Making infoboxes for each book or author that contains all their metadata.
o Ready to incorporate into all language projects.
• Using authority files to disambiguate or link works to their creators.
o Solving DABs
• Using our analytics (e.g. author timelines) as Wikidata data types to
transclude.
o Curating articles with easy to include dynamic analytics
• Populating or creating works/author pages with their algorithmically-derived
history and details.
o Extremely experimental semantic work.
I’m roaring and ready to get this collaboration going. I know Wikidata is at an early
stage, and we are willing to accommodate you.
Send me any feedback or ideas,
Max Klein
Wikipedia in Residence
kleinm@oclc.org<mailto:kleinm@oclc.org>
+17074787023
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